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Former Grizzlies owner Heisley interested in buying the Bucks

Heard a fresh round of rumbles this week that former Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley, as covered here in early November, is already interested in buying back into the league and has the Milwaukee Bucks in his sights.
So that's one more intriguing variable to factor into Milwaukee's season of mystery.

Monta Ellis and Brandon Jennings, don't forget, are in the final season of their respective contracts. Ditto for coach Scott Skiles and general manager John Hammond. Why not throw a potential ownership transfer into the Brew Stew?

Heisley is based in Chicago and, based on what's been circulating, sees the Bucks as a natural team to pursue to keep him close to home.

Don't trust that unless he now has a kid or grandkids willing to take the franchise. That was his biggest concern here. Maybe he has some Wisconsin relatives who would like in if it was closer to home?

"You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometime, you might find, you get what you need"

Former Memphis Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley wants to buy another NBA team and has targeted the Milwaukee Bucks, according to Marc Stein on espn.com.

“Heard a fresh round of rumbles this week that former Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley...is already interested in buying back into the league and has the Milwaukee Bucks in his sights,” Stein reported Dec. 14.

Heisley received a reported $377 million for selling the Grizzlies in October, according to our sister paper Memphis Business Journal.

Of course, Bucks owner Herb Kohl hasn’t said he plans to sell the team anytime soon. Kohl, 77, is retiring as U.S senator from Wisconsin.

Stein earlier reported that Chicago billionaire Heisley, 75, could make “a serious bid to buy the franchise” if Kohl can secure a new arena in Milwaukee or refurbish the BMO Harris Bradley Center. An upgraded arena in Milwaukee for the Bucks “would cement the team’s future in Wisconsin,” Stein said.

The future of an arena for the Bucks — as well as funding for other downtown cultural and entertainment venues — will be the subject of a Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce task force set to begin meeting by March 2013, as we have reported extensively in The Business Journal Serving Greater Milwaukee.

Heisley had dreamed of moving the Grizzlies to Chicago but that never happened.

“Buying the Bucks would give Heisley a very-close-to-home route back into the league he loves, after those long-ago attempts to convince the league that Chicago was big enough for two NBA franchises proved unsuccessful,” Stein said.

Heisley bought the Grizzlies in 2000 for a reported $160 million and moved the team from Vancouver to Memphis the following year, according to forbes.com. Heisley is worth $1.9 billion on Forbes’ 2012 list of billionaires and made his fortune through Heico, a company he founded that buys underperforming or bankrupt companies and turns them around.

Former Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley said he isn't trying to buy the Milwaukee Bucks amid constant speculation to the contrary.

"It's a false rumor," Heisley said.

The Milwaukee Business Journal developed an article Thursday about Heisley's possible bid to purchase the Bucks a week after ESPN reported that is what is in the NBA rumor mill.

"Heard a fresh round of rumbles this week that former Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley...is already interested in buying back into the league and has the Milwaukee Bucks in his sights," ESPN.com's Marc Stein wrote on Dec. 14.

Bucks owner Herb Kohl hasn't said he plans to sell the team anytime soon. Kohl, 77, is retiring as U.S senator from Wisconsin.

After last season when Milwaukee Bucks owner Herb Kohl publicly acknowledged he was looking to take on business partners for his NBA franchise, rumors of potential candidates immediately began to swirl around the NBA.

By last fall, there were whispers Michael Heisley, who had decided to sell the Memphis Grizzlies, had more than a passing interest in joining forces with Kohl. Some NBA officials and insiders even contended Heisley would be part of the Bucks’ ownership group sooner rather than later, perhaps even this season.

The scenario painted by some individuals was that Heisley intended on first becoming a Bucks minority owner with Kohl still in charge. Then, after approximately three years, Heisley would have the option of becoming the majority owner.

According to some people close to Heisley and Kohl, though, the latter got cold feet and balked at the idea of relinquishing his franchise, just like he did in the summer of 2003 when it appeared he was on the brink of selling the Bucks to a consortium headed by Michael Jordan.

Kohl, who purchased the Bucks in 1985 from Jim Fitzgerald for approximately $19 million, is apparently still receptive to bringing on an additional business partner. The possibility of the 76-year-old Heisley re-entering the Bucks’ picture is highly unlikely.

Heisley suffered a debilitating stroke in February and remains in a Chicago-area hospital. I’ve been told he’s been in a coma for more than a month and the prospects of a recovery are extremely bleak.